The present invention relates to an ink tank module, an ink tank coupling member, and an inkjet recording apparatus including them. More specifically, the present invention concerns an ink tank module in which a plurality of ink tanks are coupled together and arranged as a module The present invention also concerns an ink tank coupling member for firmly coupling a plurality of ink tanks and enabling them to be joined to an inkjet recording head or to the joint of a subtank with pinpoint positional accuracy. Additionally, the present invention concerns an inkjet recording apparatus including the ink tank module with the ink tank coupling member.
An inkjet recording apparatus, which is a so-called non-impact type recording apparatus, has been widely used because the apparatus can advantageously perform high speed recording as well as recording on various types of recording media while causing little or no noise during recording. This type of inkjet recording apparatus records on a recording medium by ejecting fine droplets of ink from a minute ejection port, and generally includes an inkjet recording nozzle for ejecting droplets of ink and an ink supply system for supplying ink to the nozzle. There is known, as an example of an ink ejecting system of an inkjet recording apparatus, a bubble jet system which is arranged such that an electrothermal conversion element is disposed in a recording liquid chamber. The electrothermal conversion element is supplied with an electric pulse, acting as a recording signal, and heated thereby so that thermal energy is applied to ink and droplets of ink are ejected by the bubble pressure of the ink when the ink is heated (film boiling). The recording apparatus, including this type of the inkjet recording head, can output characters and images of a high quality at a low cost. The inkjet recording apparatus is generally arranged to provide for recording in color by the provision of independent ejection mechanisms, to which black ink and color inks of cyan, magenta, and yellow are supplied.
An inkjet recording apparatus that is capable of recording in color generally uses a single ink tank. That is, the inks of the respective colors (black, cyan, magenta, and yellow) are each accommodated in the same type of ink tank, and these ink tanks are mounted on the recording apparatus. This is for the purpose of reducing manufacturing costs by simplifying the manufacturing process. The cost reduction is realized by designing and evaluating a single type of ink tank and its mounting mechanism and using that type of ink tank for all the respective colors.
However, the inks of the respective colors used in an inkjet recording apparatus may have different consumption speeds depending on the content to be recorded. Specifically, black ink typically has a higher consumption speed than the respective color inks of cyan, magenta, and yellow because texts, generally recorded with black ink, are more frequently printed than graphics. When the same type of ink tank is used regardless of the colors and types of inks as described above, the black ink tank is replaced sooner as well as more often than the color ink tanks because the amount of ink in all the ink tank is initially the same. Thus, a problem arises in that it is not convenient from a use""s point of view to use the same type of ink tank for all of the respective colors.
In contrast, there is also an arrangement in which only the black ink, which typically has a higher consumption speed, is accommodated in an ink tank which is designed separately from the color ink tanks and is several times larger than the color ink tanks. In this case, these ink tanks are more convenient from the point of view users because a larger quantity of black ink is provided in the larger ink tank, thereby reducing the frequency of ink tank replacement. With this arrangement, however, manufacturing costs may increase because design and evaluation must be performed for both the standard ink tank and the large capacity ink tank.
In view of these problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an ink tank module that has an ink capacity larger than a standard ink tank which can be formed by securely coupling a plurality of standard ink tanks together. Accordingly, only a single type of ink tank need be designed and tested, thereby manufacturing costs are reduced. Another object of the present invention is to provide an inkjet recording apparatus that can be easily used by a user without requiring frequent replacement of ink tanks and without complicating design and manufacturing processes.
To solve the aforementioned problems, an ink tank module of the present invention includes a plurality of ink tanks having substantially the same outside shape and integrated by being coupled with each other, wherein each of the plurality of ink tanks includes an ink accommodating section for accommodating ink and a supply port for supplying the ink to an inkjet recording head, the plurality of ink tanks are disposed so that the supply ports are disposed on the same surface and include a coupling member interposed therebetween and an annular film member for covering the plurality of ink tanks and the coupling member, and the ink tank module can integrally be mounted and dismounted on and from a holder on which the inkjet recording head is mounted.
Further, in an ink tank coupling member of the present invention for arranging an ink tank module in which a plurality of ink tanks each accommodating ink and having a supply port for supplying the ink to an inkjet recording head are coupled with each other and which can be integrally mounted and dismounted on and from a holder on which an inkjet recording head is mounted, the ink tank coupling member is interposed between the ink tanks that are disposed adjacent to each other so as to fix the plurality of ink tanks in such a positional relationship that the supply ports are disposed at the same pitch as the joint pitch of the holder.
An inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention includes a holder having an inkjet recording head mounted thereon for ejecting ink, the aforementioned ink tank module, and ink tanks as single bodies constituting the module, wherein the holder includes ink tank holding sections on and from which the ink tank module and the ink tank as the single bodies can be mounted and dismounted, respectively.
Further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.